@ShawnGlade thank you for sharing this, very interesting story.
I am only 23, but I have some boomer wisdom I would like to share. Nobody thinks about you anywhere near as much as you think about yourself. Most of the time, nobody cares what you are doing. Some examples:
Doing activities alone, such as eating in a public cafeteria, going to a restaurant, going to a movie. - A lot of people are embarrassed if they have to do things alone, worried that people will think they are a loser or whatever. Think about your last 50 trips to a public space. Can you even recall more than a handful of people you encountered? No one cares what you are doing
Overweight people at the beach - There is no need to be embarrassed about your body, no one truly cares. If a shirtless fat guy walks by me at the beach, maybe I think to myself, "He's a big guy." Then the thought of him just leaves my brain as I think of buff Beave pictures, and I never really think about that guy again. You do you at the beach.
How does this pertain to VHL? Some people might say you were a sucky GM. So what. You might stew on that comment for an hour, they don't give it more than 30 seconds of thought. Even if you were a sucky GM, who cares? That doesn't make you a bad person, no one is saying they hate you personally. You can in the future prove them wrong, or just ignore what some internet stranger has to think about your GM ability, because what does it really matter in the end? I say go for it and keep applying for GM jobs if you think it will give you pleasure.